Zoom Loix now third in the IRC standings

Following his victory on home soil in Ypres, Freddy Loix has added a second success to his 2008 record thanks to an emphatic win on this weekend's Barum Rally Zlin. As in Belgium last June, his teammate Nicolas Vouilloz followed him across the line in second place to claim a one-two finish for Peugeot Belgium-Luxemburg, while fellow Frenchman Bryan Bouffier made it an all-Peugeot/BFGoodrich podium.

The BFGoodrich Drivers Team operation was a resounding success again with Pavel Valousek securing fourth place overall.

Peugeot-Belux's Freddy Loix and Nicolas Vouilloz were the dominating forces of the 2008 Barum Rally Zlin, the technically challenging and fast stages of which were not unlike those featured on the Ypres Rally earlier in the year when the Franco-Belgian pair also came first and second.

Indeed, the combination of the Kronos Racing-prepared Peugeot 207 S2000s, their BFGoodrich g-Force Profiler tyres and the speed of the team's two ex-WRC drivers is turning out to be something of a winning combination on this type of asphalt event.

Nicolas Vouilloz, winner of the recent round on the island of Madeira, emerged as the early leader thanks to his win on Friday evening's super special stage in Zlin, and he succeeded in holding on to his advantage for much of Saturday. However, his teammate Freddy Loix picked up two fastest times on Saturday morning, then a further three in the afternoon to round off the first full day of competition on top, four seconds clear of Vouilloz.

By this time, several top names had already fallen by the wayside, including the two factory Abarth drivers, Alén and Basso (gearbox), and the 2008 Czech championship front-runners Roman Kresta (Peugeot, accident, SS2) and Vaclav Pech (Mitsubishi, gearbox, SS5). The final stage of the day also saw Luca Rossetti (Peugeot) fall back from third to eighth place after going off and collecting a puncture.

The start of the second leg played into the hands of Freddy Loix when a faulty driveshaft nut delayed the Peugeot of Vouilloz. The Frenchman nonetheless managed to hold on to the second spot ahead of his compatriot Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot) who has worked his way up through the ranks of Peugeot's one-make series.

The 2007 Polish champion celebrated his first IRC outing with a top-three finish and four fastest times to narrowly ward off the BFGoodrich Drivers Team representative Pavel Valousek, despite picking up a minute's penalty.